Maureen McGovern takes ‘Winding Road’ back to ’60s

Jenna SchererThursday, October 08, 2009

Maureen McGovern is performing in ‘A Long and Winding Road,’ a theatrical concert showing at the BCA Calderwood Pavilion.

After 37 years on the American music scene, Maureen McGovern’s seen it all. The Grammy-winning singer and actress has feet planted in the worlds of folk music, musical theater and pop. During the 1970s, the Ohio native made a name for herself recording such movie themes as “The Morning After” from “The Poseidon Adventure” and “Can You Read My Mind” from “Superman.”

But McGovern’s heart will always be in the ’60s, when she was coming into her own as a singer and as a person. She takes audiences down the path of her life, and that of her generation, in “A Long and Winding Road,” a theatrical concert directed and co-conceived by Philip Himburg that opens Friday, presented by the Huntington Theatre Company.

In the course of the show, McGovern, 60, will sing nearly 30 songs by the likes of the Beatles, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell and Connie Francis.

We caught up with the singer recently during a break in rehearsal at the Boston Center for the Arts.

Herald: How did you go about putting together the song list?

McGovern: We went through about 400 songs trying to find the spine of what is relevant about them now. Back then, so many of these songs were considered just kids music that you’re supposed to outgrow. But when you look at the body of work from the ’60s and early ’70s and the incredible iconic singer/songwriters, they were so much more.

What is it about folk music that particularly speaks to people?

It’s very conversational and it’s very direct. It’s always getting to the heart of the message. Before things could be written down, people passed on folk music from town to town, all through the ages. These songs will continue.

What was it like going back over the story of your life to create the show?

This is a highly emotional show because it’s obviously reliving my life. So it’s a very cleansing, uplifting thing. But you also have to be willing to go to those places that you haven’t dealt with over the years. The ’60s were a time of separation. We were turning our back on a lot that came before, which had its negatives as well. So it was a nice healing moment in the show to deal with some closure with my mother and father. We shared music, but our political beliefs were diametrically opposed. Young people asserting your personhood, every generation goes through that.

(Story continues below)

You’re a big believer in music therapy. Is performing “A Long and Winding Road” therapeutic for you?

Oh, absolutely. Every time I sing. The ancients knew the inherent healing qualities of music. The first thing a mother does is sing to a child. That’s the first voice they hear. Music reaches a place inside us more profound than just about anything. We’re all water and vibrations, and it reaches inside on a cellular and emotional and spiritual level. I had a friend whose mother was in a coma, and he sat with her the whole time and told her jokes, talked to her, sang hymns that they had sung when he was a kid. And she came out of the coma, didn’t remember anything that he said, but she corrected him on the wrong lyrics.